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Hey dakka,

Thinking about doing tau camo for the first time, I usually go with solid colours on my vehicles, but for my speedy little piranhas, I was thinking camouflage would be more appropriate. Anyone have any good tips?

Also, my main colour is shadow grey, with a secondary colour of shadow grey. If I need to use a darker colour in the camo, I was thinking Fenris grey or Necron Abyss, if lighter, maybe a 50/50 SG/SWG mix, or Russ grey, or fenrisian grey...

Anyways, how should I go about this? Stark contrast like white/SW grey and SG, or similar colours? Blocky camouflage like in the codex, or how guard vehicles have it with a solid colours and a few thin ~straight lines?

Really, all I know is that I will need sticky tack and my air brush...

Mate I would simply pick a real world camo pattern you like and copy it.

Being Tau and highly advanced I would go with something like the Australian digi-cam which is a very different style.

Or match it to your basing technique. If your models are based on desert bases then a desert camo.

If still in doubt do a couple of tests and post them up in the painting forum and get some opinions.

Sounds like you have a darker blue/grey look. I don't know if it would be possible to paint, but the USN NWU pattern camo (it's a blue/grey digital pattern) would probably look pretty awesome with Tau. I don't know though, google it and see what you think!

The camo pattern is really simple to do, but you have to remember to scale it correctly. That is the difficult part of it, and leads to it not looking right. Airbrush is the easiest way to pay down the colors, tape off the areas and lay down another color. Rinse and repeat.

I've been tempted to go with a Zero camo pattern due to feeling like every game I'm sending them on a kamikaze mission.
http://japaneseaircraft.devhub.com/blog/584513-mitsubishi-a6m-reisen-camo-ii/

Tun_Tau wrote:I've been tempted to go with a Zero camo pattern due to feeling like every game I'm sending them on a kamikaze mission.
http://japaneseaircraft.devhub.com/blog/584513-mitsubishi-a6m-reisen-camo-ii/

LOL.. I know the feeling with my orks at times..

I'm thinking the USN NWU, though am still unsure as to the exact colours I should use for it.

Also, is there anything similar to that camo pattern using only two colours?

You can do it with two colors, but three would be best.

ruff wrote:You can do it with two colors, but three would be best.

As I have two to paint, I think I should try two colours on the first and see how it works, then progress to 3 colours.

Anyways, suggestions for colours?

What is your base color of your vehicles??

Not trying to hijack your thread but I've just finished exploring a new camo pattern for my new 501st Nightside regiment with Shadow Grey/Regal Blue/Space Wolves Grey and Nato Black (a paint by Tamiya). It's turned out pretty well and I was going for something a bit more jagged I guess. Anyway, have a look if you're interested
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/444746.page

You have a good opportunity with Tau to come up with something a bit more "unearthly" and alien. I really like some of the more digital looking camo scheme's especially in the book "how to paint citadel tanks" - there's some seriously cool Tau stuff in there.

ruff wrote:What is your base color of your vehicles??

Shadow grey


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nightside wrote:Not trying to hijack your thread but I've just finished exploring a new camo pattern for my new 501st Nightside regiment with Shadow Grey/Regal Blue/Space Wolves Grey and Nato Black (a paint by Tamiya). It's turned out pretty well and I was going for something a bit more jagged I guess. Anyway, have a look if you're interested
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/444746.page

You have a good opportunity with Tau to come up with something a bit more "unearthly" and alien. I really like some of the more digital looking camo scheme's especially in the book "how to paint citadel tanks" - there's some seriously cool Tau stuff in there.

Well I was wondering how to figure out the layout of the sticky tack/tape to cover the bottom layer while you airbrush...did you just throw it on at random? I'm not especially creative and don't picture things really well: my painting is based on my quite exact execution, rather than any artisticness...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage

Dazzle Camouflage is sexy.

FrozenSoul80 wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage

Dazzle Camouflage is sexy.

That is! Have you used it on any models? I could see using that on DE raiders

Tun_Tau wrote:

FrozenSoul80 wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage

Dazzle Camouflage is sexy.

That is! Have you used it on any models? I could see using that on DE raiders

Can't see it working on anything else though.

Anyways, tips for laying out the physical scheme for the camo? Or should I just place randomly and pray?

Tun_Tau wrote:

FrozenSoul80 wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage

Dazzle Camouflage is sexy.

That is! Have you used it on any models? I could see using that on DE raiders

I've never used it, I don't yet have the painting skills to pull it off. I've never seen anyone else use it on models, either, but I'm always looking.

Camo is random at its best. If it was to be a strict pattern then it would be easily seen.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

nightside wrote:Not trying to hijack your thread but I've just finished exploring a new camo pattern for my new 501st Nightside regiment with Shadow Grey/Regal Blue/Space Wolves Grey and Nato Black (a paint by Tamiya). It's turned out pretty well and I was going for something a bit more jagged I guess. Anyway, have a look if you're interested
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/444746.page

You have a good opportunity with Tau to come up with something a bit more "unearthly" and alien. I really like some of the more digital looking camo scheme's especially in the book "how to paint citadel tanks" - there's some seriously cool Tau stuff in there.

Well I was wondering how to figure out the layout of the sticky tack/tape to cover the bottom layer while you airbrush...did you just throw it on at random? I'm not especially creative and don't picture things really well: my painting is based on my quite exact execution, rather than any artisticness...

I didn't use an airbrush (still looking to buy one when I can afford it) so that is all freehand. I undercoated the tank with Shadow Grey, then used a H lead pencil to draw on geometric patterns. When I say this, I mean a jagged kind of "anything goes" pattern which is a cross between digital/tiger-stripe and jagged. I made mine logical though so that the sections flowed around the whole tank and I wasn't just starting a new random pattern where the top of the tracks meet the body. I started with the top of the tank - penciled it, then painted the pattern in Regal Blue. This gave me a better idea of where the pattern would go down the sides, front and back so I could then pencil those parts in and paint them as I went.

That's why I want an airbrush just because freehand does take a fair amount of time. If I had one I would undercoat in Shadow Grey again and then cut out sections of masking tape and put them on the tank in the pattern that I wanted to REMAIN shadow grey. Then when the Regal Blue is sprayed on, the basecoat is preserved. Tape off and hey presto! That's the plan. I urge you to experiment on bits of old tank or whatever, it's a pain when you're itching to go to work on your army I know but it's totally worth it.

I know that the NWU camo is a four color pattern, if I did it I would use Chaos Black, Shadow Grey, Space Wolves Grey, and Fortress Grey (although I'm not sure what those colors would translate to in the new paint range ) Doing the digi would be hard, but extremely impressive if you could pull it off, and I think it would definitely be a very Tau look (far too neat and modern to be made by the IoM!)

I have several suggestions.

WW2 German aircraft pattern -- There are blobby and splinter variants. Plenty of pics on the Internet.

British Berlin Brigade Tank Camo


WW1 German Aircraft




Personally I think this would look awesome in full colours but it will be very difficult to pull off. I've considered buying the decal sets to do up my Tau.

Dazzle camo was for ships. Since they are too large to hide, the camo was designed to confuse the enemy about speed, direction and size/type.

I used a simple, brush applied camo scheme to my Tau vehicles. Its simp[le, but I think its effective in disguising the lines of the vehicle. I used black as a base colour because I am lazy and you need to prime the things anyway

nightside wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:

nightside wrote:Not trying to hijack your thread but I've just finished exploring a new camo pattern for my new 501st Nightside regiment with Shadow Grey/Regal Blue/Space Wolves Grey and Nato Black (a paint by Tamiya). It's turned out pretty well and I was going for something a bit more jagged I guess. Anyway, have a look if you're interested
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/444746.page

You have a good opportunity with Tau to come up with something a bit more "unearthly" and alien. I really like some of the more digital looking camo scheme's especially in the book "how to paint citadel tanks" - there's some seriously cool Tau stuff in there.

Well I was wondering how to figure out the layout of the sticky tack/tape to cover the bottom layer while you airbrush...did you just throw it on at random? I'm not especially creative and don't picture things really well: my painting is based on my quite exact execution, rather than any artisticness...

I didn't use an airbrush (still looking to buy one when I can afford it) so that is all freehand. I undercoated the tank with Shadow Grey, then used a H lead pencil to draw on geometric patterns. When I say this, I mean a jagged kind of "anything goes" pattern which is a cross between digital/tiger-stripe and jagged. I made mine logical though so that the sections flowed around the whole tank and I wasn't just starting a new random pattern where the top of the tracks meet the body. I started with the top of the tank - penciled it, then painted the pattern in Regal Blue. This gave me a better idea of where the pattern would go down the sides, front and back so I could then pencil those parts in and paint them as I went.

That's why I want an airbrush just because freehand does take a fair amount of time. If I had one I would undercoat in Shadow Grey again and then cut out sections of masking tape and put them on the tank in the pattern that I wanted to REMAIN shadow grey. Then when the Regal Blue is sprayed on, the basecoat is preserved. Tape off and hey presto! That's the plan. I urge you to experiment on bits of old tank or whatever, it's a pain when you're itching to go to work on your army I know but it's totally worth it.

Well if you can't afford a full, legitimate air brush, you could always go for the cheap 36CAD citadel spray gun, good for getting used to the whole airbrushing technique. Like trying a disposable camera before getting a professional one...

Also, don't use tape. Use stick tack. Easier to cut and remove, and doesn't take any paint with it. Sometimes with tape, you'll find it peeling a portion of the previous layer of paint with it...I learned this the hard way while doing sept markings on my non-camouflaged tanks.




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Flinty wrote:I used a simple, brush applied camo scheme to my Tau vehicles. Its simp[le, but I think its effective in disguising the lines of the vehicle. I used black as a base colour because I am lazy and you need to prime the things anyway

Any taping off or anything? Because I love that camo scheme, and am inclined to try it as my camo...I'll have to make it work for my piranhas, which would be another challenge...

Flinty wrote:I used a simple, brush applied camo scheme to my Tau vehicles. Its simp[le, but I think its effective in disguising the lines of the vehicle. I used black as a base colour because I am lazy and you need to prime the things anyway

Flinty, this looks awesome, it's hell effective too. Night-tau!


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Also, don't use tape. Use stick tack. Easier to cut and remove, and doesn't take any paint with it. Sometimes with tape, you'll find it peeling a portion of the previous layer of paint with it...I learned this the hard way while doing sept markings on my non-camouflaged tanks.

What is Stick Tack? Is it like Blu-tack that yoiu use to put up posters?

What is Stick Tack? Is it like Blu-tack that yoiu use to put up posters?

Yes, I meant sticky tack.

Je suis2 au hazard wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Flinty wrote:I used a simple, brush applied camo scheme to my Tau vehicles. Its simp[le, but I think its effective in disguising the lines of the vehicle. I used black as a base colour because I am lazy and you need to prime the things anyway

Any taping off or anything? Because I love that camo scheme, and am inclined to try it as my camo...I'll have to make it work for my piranhas, which would be another challenge...

Nope. No taping or sticky anything. You can get nice clean curves relatively easily with a brush and camo is supposed to be a bit wibbly. The grey covers black quite well, so you don't need lots of layers. the new GW white may be the bet thing for the white as I did mine a while back and the white is a bit dodgy in person. Any minor inconistencies and a quick re-lining with black deals with it nicely.

Settled on a camo scheme, a simple one, admittedly. Thoughts?

Looks nice - I like the colours you've chosen. Can I suggest that you have thinner stripes, and more of them? The camoflauge should break up the outlines of the vehicle.

NimbleJack3 wrote:Looks nice - I like the colours you've chosen. Can I suggest that you have thinner stripes, and more of them? The camoflauge should break up the outlines of the vehicle.

I didn't want to accidentally make the stripes too thin, so I made them a medium thickness, and because of that I did not have enough modelling putty left to make a fourth line in the front (I wanted to)

Something that looks cool with the Tau is to paint the vehicle a light solid color (I use a light gray) with the weapons black. Then take a dark wash (I used a dark blue) and over paint the whole vehicle so the wash pools in spots (you can control the shape and size of the pools with your brush). When the wash dries (which takes hours) you will get this cool ripple effect as the pools dry darker than the rest. It provides a very organic looking camo. It takes a little practice but once you get it down it is easy. To start I would just find some smooth plastic (the plastic lid of butter containers work) and practice the technique until you are comfortable with it. Then you can paint a whole take in no time at all and it will look great.